A post shared by Naomi ✰ (@_naomivisser) on May 11, 2018 at 2:59am PDT

10. Gymnasts shared their #fails

One fateful day in May, Italy’s Sydney Saturnino decided to share her gym fail, and we haven’t gone back since: Hundreds of other gymnasts shared their most hilarious falls as part of the #GymnasticsFailChallenge. In a sport that could use all the positivity it can get, it’s always nice when we can laugh at ourselves, and, of course, at other people.

9. Jade Carey went her own way

Team USA’s “Jade who?” rising star of 2017 decided this year that she doesn’t want to go to your trash Olympic trials, because she doesn’t have to. In a bit of a shocker, Carey made the move to qualify as an individual to the 2020 Olympics through the apparatus world cups, bypassing team selection altogether and, horrifyingly, making us all do math.

8. Van Gerner channelled her inner feline

Celine van Gerner stunned with this Cats-themed floor routine at the Euros floor final, competing in full makeup and later taking a long nap on your keyboard while you’re trying to work from home. Some loved it, some hated it, but the FIG definitely hated it, stating during worlds that makeup must be “modest,” since the year is 1958. In any case, like me with my local ice cream parlor’s sample policy, van Gerner will go down in history as the badass who changed the rules.

7. Musty returned

What would we do without her? After taking a “break” to have a baby after Rio, Aliya Mustafina made her much awaited return in April at the Russian Championships and casually made the worlds team. She contributed bars, beam, and floor scores to help her team to a silver, and took fifth in the bars final, all while carrying little Alisa in a papoose. Not too shabby.

6. Italy’s juniors made waves

Italy’s juniors aren’t messing around: They showed up at Euros and took seven medals, including the team and all-around titles. Giorgia Villa later beat Viktoria Komova’s record for Youth Olympic Games medals, coming home with three golds and a silver, including the all-around title, and usurping old men as the new and improved Italian mob.

5. Rhys took Commonwealths gold

Ireland’s pride and joy Rhys McClenaghan took his country’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal with a near-perfect pommels routine. He followed that up by winning Ireland’s first European Championships gold along with all our stone-cold hearts. Anyone else just wanna make him a sandwich?

4. Nina Derwael won Belgium’s first worlds gold

Nina Derwael took her country’s first-ever world gold medal with this mind-boggling routine, following up on her Euros gold and 20 hit routines this year. She continued her trend with another gold at Cottbus, perhaps her first step toward Tokyo.

3. Peng Peng Lee went out with a bang

Peng Peng Lee’s final routine in the final meet of her career had to be perfect, and she didn’t disappoint. Lee hit the 10 heard around the world, clinching victory for UCLA at the Super Six over challengers Oklahoma and star all-arounder Maggie Nichols, who finally got her title.

2. Simone broke records

Simone Biles returned to competition at the 2018 U.S. Classic with some new tricks up her sleeve. She casually broke the record for most world all-around titles after winning her fourth, had a new vault named for her, and won a medal in every event. She later passed a kidney stone that competed at the 2018 Kidney Stone Olympics, winning golds in mineral concentration and crystallization.

1. Rachael Denhollander led an army

Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of abuse, spoke last at Larry Nassar’s Ingham County sentencing. Her bravery, poise, and general badassery continue to inspire us, along with the over 300 women who have followed her by coming forward. We salute you, we support you, and we’ll continue in 2019 to fight for the changes that need to be made to make our sport safe.

Wut else you should know

Honorable mention: Kenzo Shirai did Mai Murakami’s floor routine, prompting this incredible Venn Diagram. This local hero put the two routines side by side.